Poland Cannot Pay EU Fine of 320 Million Euros

Poland will be unable to reimburse the European Union the 320 million euros lost as a result of an ongoing dispute with Brussels over the independence of the judicial system. This was reported by Euronews.

The Supreme Court ruled, "The European Commission acted correctly by removing 320 million euros from Poland's share of the EU budget due to the controversial judicial reforms implemented by the previous government."

"The Commission did not violate EU legislation by collecting debts," stated the ruling.

The European Commission, which supervises the general budget and approves regular payments, has a compensation mechanism that can be used when a member state refuses to pay fines imposed by the Court of Justice of the European Union for violations of the law.

In Poland's case, daily fines of 1 million euros were imposed in October after the nationalistic government led by the Law and Justice party ignored a temporary order to immediately suspend the judicial reforms, which the EU believes threaten the separation of powers and put the judicial system under political control.